List Price: $26.00 Details

Save: $1.73 (7%)

$3.99 delivery October 19 - 25. Details

Or fastest delivery October 18 - 22. Details

Select delivery location

Only 1 left in stock - order soon.

As an alternative, the Kindle eBook is available now and can be read on any device with the free Kindle app.

$$24.27 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Konak Media

Sold by

Konak Media

Details

Ships from

Konak Media

Sold by

Konak Media

1-Click ordering is not available for this item.

$3.99 delivery October 25 - 29. Details

Or fastest delivery October 21 - 27. Details

Select delivery location

Used: Like New | Details

Sold by midtownscholarbookstore

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share <Embed>

Other Sellers on Amazon

$26.00
& FREE Shipping. Details

Sold by: Amazon.com

$23.95
+ $4.69 shipping

Sold by: BUngerland

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See this image

Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive For Permanent Power Hardcover – August 28, 2006

by Thomas B. Edsall (Author)

11 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.99

—

Hardcover

"Please retry"

$24.27

$23.95

$0.54

Paperback

"Please retry"

$18.99

$17.98

$3.49

Enhance your purchase

It's no secret that the Republicans are aiming for a generation-long realignment that will establish them as the majority party for the rest of our lifetimes. But few people outside the far right understand what that means. Any realignment has huge effects on political culture, and this one is more ambitious than any other in our history, including the Democratic takeover in the 1930s. It is the first deliberate realignment. It involves cultural changes--in the media and in the academy--that were never part of previous realignments. And it encompasses institutional changes in areas like foreign policy and the judiciary, whose independence was always respected in the past. Every aspect of society and every office of government is being turned to the purpose of strengthening Republican institutions--businesses, evangelical Protestant churches--and weakening Democratic ones, such as unions and consumer groups. Building Red America will bring home to readers for the first time the true extent of the Republican takeover of American politics, by revealing the chief architects of political revolution. The result is a masterful--and disturbing--work of political journalism that challenges all of us to wake up and take heed before the world has changed beyond recognition.

Print length

336 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Basic Books
Publication date

August 28, 2006
Dimensions

6 x 0.75 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

0465018157
ISBN-13

978-0465018154
See all details

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Page 1 of 1 Start overPage 1 of 1

Thomas Byrne Edsall
4
Paperback
$25.00

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this comprehensive and insightful book, Edsall shows just how much angrier Democrats could be—not least of all at themselves—if only they knew the half of what was going on. A senior political reporter for the Washington Post, he knows the capitol's ins and outs as well as anyone, without the bedfellowism of some other Washington journalists. The book goes a long way to explain why Bush, who ran in 2000 as a "uniter, not a divider," proceeded with an aggressively right-wing strategy once in power. Beginning with the revelation to conservative thinkers in 2000 that the "center of the electorate had collapsed," Edsall assiduously details every aspect of their successful push to galvanize their base and emasculate their opponents. "Without pressure to accommodate the center," he adds, "Republicans in the majority have been, with little cost, relatively unresponsive to criticism." Hence, the administration managed to draw both working-class evangelicals (using classic "wedge issues" like race and outrage over gay rights and abortion) and wealthy K Street lobbyists with little consequence. But he also shows that the Democrats lack salable strategies and have lost "a decisive majority of white voters." With depth and journalistic clarity, Edsall illustrates exactly why, more than ever, Democrats need their own Karl Rove. (Sept.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Thomas B. Edsall covered national politics for twenty-five years at the Washington Post . He is now a correspondent for the New Republic and the National Journal . He was a guest columnist in 2006 for the New York Times , and holds the Pulitzer-Moore Chair in Public Affairs Journalism at Columbia University in New York. His previous book, Chain Reaction: The Impact of Race, Rights, and Taxes , was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction in 1992. He lives in New York and Washington, D.C.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Basic Books; 1st edition (August 28, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 336 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0465018157
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0465018154
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.44 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 0.75 x 9 inches

Customer Reviews:

11 ratings

Customer reviews

5 star		36%
4 star		20%
3 star		12%
2 star		12%
1 star		20%

How are ratings calculated?

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Warren P. Shingle

Evidence hand in hand with common sense

Reviewed in the United States on August 13, 2020

Verified Purchase

Like all of Edsall’s work written in a an engaging reportorial style, clear evidence and coherent logic.

Helpful

Herbert Gintis

Serious analysis with lots of facts

Reviewed in the United States on September 24, 2006

This book has been seriously misrepresented in the press (a stupid review by George Will and a misleading review on Amazon). It is a very serious work of scholarship with a good deal of insight into the problems of the Democratic party. Edsall characterises the Democratic party as (a) an uneasy and unstable alliance of minorities and the poor, who have serious economic issues on the one hand, and liberal, affluent elites with interests in new age values and individual liberation on the other. He charges that Democrats have no coherent economic policy to protect marginal groups in the age of globalization, no coherent policy for rectifying government inefficiency and stifling bureaucracy, and no credibility in dealing with military affairs in particular, and foreign affairs in general. Liberal values, he argues, have led to the election of Republican mayors and governors, as for instance, noting that Dinkins in New York was so ineffective that he was followed by four successive Republican mayors. Democrats, moreover, are in bed with the most venal of feeders at the public trough, organized unions in education (AFT and NEA), whose bread and butter middle class economic issues prevent Democrats from espousing choice programs that would benefit the less well off.

This book is a fine introduction to political demography and recent electoral and social history in the United States, and deserves to be entertained by serious students of politics, not the hacks that have reviewed it so far.

59 people found this helpful

Bryan Carey

The Political Strategy to Control America

Reviewed in the United States on March 25, 2007

American political thought and the policies adopted by the Republicans and Democrats have always been in a constant state of change, with each of the two parties scrambling to adapt to an ever- changing world with new concerns and new opportunities. In different decades, Democrats had the upper hand and were perceived as being in step with a large percentage of voters. This trend continued through much of the 1960's and 1970's and Democrats enjoyed either control of the White House or, at least, control of the Senate and House of Representatives.

But things began to change in the 1980's when voters- many of them lifetime supporters of the Democratic Party- began to switch to the Republican camp. How this happened, and what Republicans did to make it happen, are the main subjects of this book. It breaks down, piece by piece, the Republican strategy that began in the 1980's and continues today. It is a multi- faceted strategy that capitalizes on the general support of big business; the importance of religion to many American families; the economic independence and classical economic approach favored by a growing number of Americans; and the general backlash of many voters against what they perceive as an unfair and/or immoral advantage given to certain groups based on minority or "oppressed" status.

Author Thomas Edsall writes this book in an informative way and he refrains from making judgments or criticizing the strategies used by Republicans. All he wants to do is point out what his research (and the research of others) has confirmed and offer a few talking points on what Democrats can do to win back some of its disgruntled voters. This lack of opinion will suit some readers just fine, but it will irritate others who prefer a more scrutinizing approach. I like the book and I agree that it is an invaluable resource for understanding the tactics used by Republicans to reshape politics, but I would like it even more if it spent at least a little time talking about the deceptions used by Republicans. Like, for example, the Republican strategy to "Starve the Beast": Reduce taxes to cut government revenues to the point that government will have to become leaner and more efficient. As anyone knows with minimal research, this claim/strategy is utter nonsense. Republicans have indeed reduced some taxes, but they have continued to grow government regardless of the revenue stream; making up the difference by borrowing and exploding the size of the federal deficit. Edsall talks about this strategy like it is true. But most anyone can look at the data on government spending and clearly see the totals soaring skyward, regardless of the amount of tax revenue. Also, little discussion is made of the Republican tendency to increase the scope of government; making government more intrusive into private lives and attempting to legislate the Republican Party's own (im)morality on the public at large. Edsall mentions this fact only briefly when he talks about the dissatisfaction felt by many over the Republican tendency to try to control what goes on in one's bedroom. But he doesn't say much else about this; again, leading readers to believe the false Republican claim of working toward smaller government.

Edsall does spend some time at the end of the book talking about Democratic Party strengths and weaknesses and this part of the book would be very good for those who are actively working to revive the Democratic Party and win back the confidence of the voting public. But there is one important fact about this book that is worth noting: It was published in August, 2006, three months before the midterm elections. During these elections, Democrats took control of both houses of Congress. Does this invalidate the material in Edsall's book? No, it does not, because the basic strategies of Republicans as they are described in this book are accurate and well- known. It was the war against Iraq and a few other issues that won the Congress for the Democrats. This victory could prove to be short- lived if the Democratic Party returns to its political strategies of the recent past.

Overall, Building Red America is a very good book about the political roadmap of the United States and the tactics used by Republicans to win over more voters and squeeze out victories in spite of its failure to deliver on its own promises. There is little analysis of these strategies in the book and Edsall avoids criticizing these tactics. But his book is very informative and flawlessly written and while it might be a little too factual and dry for some readers, it offers a very good synopsis of the Republican strategy to realign voters into the conservative camp.

10 people found this helpful

L. Lieb

Sun Rises in the East

Reviewed in the United States on February 19, 2009

Edsall basically restates what's already been said about the southern strategy,the problems of the Democratic Party, and way the Joe Trippi revolutionized fundraising in Howard Dean's campaign.

Considering that the book was written around the time of a Democratic win, while Dean was chair. Edsall could have attempted to analyze the effectiveness of the 50-state strategy, however, he does not.

In addition to restating many well-established arguments, Edsall mixes campaigns stereotypes with research to form overstated analysis. For example, Edsall brings up data to support the claim that a one party is more likely to watch certain kinds of TV shows. These seem closer to stereotypes perpetuated by campaigns than reliable data: e.g. this drives a volvo--you all know what they means.

While there, is little to suggest that Edsalls research is dishonest, the analysis could be better. Edsall could have done a better job with analyzing data, particular those involving demographics and party affiliations. More importantly, Edsall could have found a way to come up with something original, whether its completely orginial, or a new way to look at say the southern strategy. As it stands there is very little in this book that is not already well-established.

4 people found this helpful

Buy new: $24.27 $3.99 delivery: Oct 19 - 25 Ships from: Konak Media Sold by: Konak Media

Buy used: $1.53

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Other Sellers on Amazon

Building Red America: The New Conservative Coalition and the Drive For Permanent Power Hardcover – August 28, 2006

Enhance your purchase

Customers who viewed this item also viewed

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Product details

Videos

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Buy new:

$24.27

$3.99 delivery: Oct 19 - 25

Ships from: Konak Media

Sold by: Konak Media

Buy used:

$1.53